Missing
by Percabeth-is-Endless
Summary: My take on what happened when Percy went missing. Set before/during TLH. Annabeth's POV. Read & review!
1. Too Good To Be True

**Disclaimer: You see there's this series of books called Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Sadly, I don't own it. Okay? Good.**

**Annabeth POV**

It was just another average day at Camp Half-Blood.

The weather was perfect, the strawberries were ripe and everyone was in a good mood.

There was nothing to worry us – well nothing except for the new Great Prophecy Rachel had predicted, but for all we knew that might not happen for another century or so, so it wasn't that much of a bother.

All the campers were sitting around the campfire being entertained by the Apollo cabin's sing-a-long. I was sitting next to Percy and was happily singing along to We Are Young by fun.

Percy and I were both really excited because winter break had come early this year for both of us. We had decided that camp would be the best – and safest – way for us to spend it with each other.

We were planning to have a relaxing three weeks together. No trouble, no wars, just Camp Half-Blood, our friends and each other.

But of course, the life of a demigod is never that simple.

Anyways back to the sing-a-long.

Percy had one arm around me and my head was resting on his shoulder. We were both swaying in time with the music and I could picture Aphrodite squealing her little air-filled head off at the image.

As the night went on, campers drifted off to their cabins and eventually it was just me, Percy, a crackling fire, a crescent moon and a mountain of marshmallows just waiting to be roasted.

We had shifted to a position where he was leaning back on his elbows and my head was in his lap. His hands were playing with my hair, which I found relaxing. Again I imagined that air-headed goddess of love squealing her head off.

Damn Aphrodite. Stay out of my thoughts.

I stared up at the clear night sky, looking at all the constellations; Andromeda, Hercules, Hydra and – my favourite – the Huntress. I smiled as I thought about that one summer. It wasn't much of a happy memory: being kidnapped, betrayed by Luke and forced to hold up the sky, but it was nice to know I had survived, and that Percy had come to my rescue in the end.

It was a picture-perfect moment that I hoped would last forever. But as the saying goes, _all good things must come to an end_.

Stupid universe. Why can't I just have one uninterrupted happy moment, huh?

"It's getting late." Percy noted.

"Yeah, I know." I replied.

"You tired yet?"

"Not really." I said but –of course – I had to yawn right then. _Great timing_ I thought to myself.

Percy chuckled, "I think your body disagrees with you."

"Whatever." I laughed.

I sat up so I was facing him. His sea-green eyes looked amazing in the firelight. The reflection of the flames danced around in them. I couldn't help getting lost in his eyes.

"C'mon," he yawned and held out his hand, "we should be getting to sleep."

"Fine." I took his hand and let him lead me to my cabin.

I noticed how calm and peaceful the camp was at night. I could faintly hear the waves crashing on the beach and there were some crickets chirping from somewhere in the forest. In other words it was a beautiful night.

_It's too perfect, too good to be true._ I thought to myself. But I didn't pound myself on the matter. _I should just enjoy this while it lasts._

We walked, hand in hand, up the steps to my cabin.

Once we had reached the top step, I looked up into his eyes.

"Goodnight Seaweed Brain." I smiled.

He leaned in and kissed me in return. When we pulled apart, he rested his forehead against mine, "Goodnight Wise Girl."

He smiled and slowly released his hands from mine. I opened to the door to my cabin and stepped inside, watching as he turned and walked back to his.

Once he had reached his cabin I turned around and closed the door of my own.

That was my big mistake.


	2. Discovery

**Disclaimer: PJO is not mine. Nor has it ever been or ever will.**

_Previously: Once he had reached his cabin, I turned around and closed the door of my own.  
That was my big mistake._

**Annabeth POV**

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face.

Partly because I had a dreamless sleep, which made me smile because there were no demigod dreams to scare me. Partly because of the night before, sitting by the campfire with Percy, everything so peaceful and quiet. Everything so perfect.

I reluctantly climbed out of bed and got ready. The sun was shining and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. Again, everything seemed too perfect.

Once I was ready I went outside, there wasn't long until breakfast so I decided to go see if Percy was up yet. He probably wasn't he'd been sleeping in a LOT lately.

I walked over to his cabin and climbed the steps. I gently knocked on the door and waited three seconds. _No reply. How unusual._ Note the sarcasm there.

I knocked one more time, a little louder and pressed my ear against the door. _Nothing. _

I knocked one more time, quite loudly and still got no reply so I just decided to go in.

I slowly opened the door and peeked inside, "Percy?"

_Nothing. What's wrong with him this morning?_

I opened the door fully and stepped inside. I looked around his room, it was as messy as ever. "_I really have to get him to clean this place up,"_ I told myself, _"This place looks like a bomb hit it."_

Then I noticed his bed. It was empty. Empty as in nobody was in it. As in it wasn't occupied.

_Bathroom, _I thought. But the bathroom door was open and as I walked towards it I noticed nobody inside it. _Okay…this is weird._

"Percy?" I said again.

_No reply._

I walked out the back door to check if he was anywhere out there.

_Nope._ _WHERE IS HE?_

I walked back inside and stopped dead in my tracks.

His room…it was…it was…CLEAN.

His bed had been made. All of his clothes had been put away and his Minotaur horn was polished and hanging off of one of the hooks on the wall.

It looked as if a bunch of magical cleaning fairies had come in and completely made-over the Poseidon cabin so it was clean.

But what scared me most was that in the thirty seconds that I had been outside and back, this cabin had gone from a complete war-zone to…to…I don't even know what this was. It was too clean for words.

Then the breakfast horn blew and I thought _"Oh well, wherever he is I'll see him at breakfast."_

I made my way over to the dining pavilion and got my food, made my sacrifice yada-yada-yada.

I sat down with my siblings and kept looking all around and at the Poseidon table for Percy. Next thing I knew breakfast was over and he still hadn't shown up.

Other people had noticed his absence as well and they started coming up to me:  
"Hey Annabeth, where's your boyfriend?"  
"Hey Annabeth, have you seen Percy?"  
"Hey Annie, do you know where Perce is?"

It eventually got annoying answering them all with the same answer, no.

I went over to Chiron wondering if he knew anything.

"Morning Chiron."

"Good morning Annabeth. How can I help you?"

"Um, I was just wondering…you see I haven't seen Percy this morning and I was wondering if you knew anything about where he is…"

"No I'm sorry dear, I don't. But he can't be far. Why don't you just go to your first lesson and we'll see if he shows up."

"Okay. Thanks Chiron."

I walked off to my first class, then the next, then the next. By lunch time there was still no sign of Percy. I was starting to worry.

"Chiron, it's lunch time. It's been three hours. There's no sign of Percy whatsoever. Can I please be excused to go look for him?"

"Annabeth, I really don't think –"

"Chiron. PLEASE."

He sighed, "Fine, but only for a little while. I don't want anything happening to you. If something happens come straight back."

"Yeah, okay. BYE!"

Then I ran off towards the beach, in search of my boyfriend.


	3. Searching

_Previously: I ran off towards the beach, in search of my boyfriend_

**Annabeth POV**

I searched everywhere; the beach, Half-Blood Hill, Thalia's Pine, the creek, the stables, the strawberry fields, the forges etc.

Basically I searched nearly every inch of the property.

And what did I get?

Nothing.

By the time I got back to camp, it was half way through dinner and I had leaves and sticks in my hair. I had mud smeared everywhere and I pretty much looked like a wreck.

As I entered the dining pavilion, the noise level dropped dramatically.

I felt everyone's eyes on me as I marched up to the head table.

I stopped right next to Chiron.

He looked up to me and I shook my head.

Finally somebody spoke up.

"…A-Annabeth? Are you alright? Where have you been? Where's Percy?" It was Will Solace from the Apollo cabin.

There was silence until I realised everybody was waiting for me to answer.

"I'm…I'm fine. I've just been…in the woods…" I avoided that last question. I hated not knowing. I HAD to find him.

Scratch that, I WOULD find him.

I went and got my food and made my sacrifice to the gods, as I scraped some food in the fire I silently prayed to my mother, _Dear Lady Athena, mother, I know you don't like him very much but please give me guidance to find Percy. Help me out. Please. I –I can't do this by myself._

I walked to the Athena table, sat down and noticed that everything was still silent and everyone was still watching me.

"What?" I asked.

"You didn't answer my question." Will replied.

_Brave boy. _I thought. _Having the courage to answer back to an angry daughter of Athena._

"Yes I did."

"No, you didn't… where's Percy?"

I sat there for a while, focusing on my breathing, trying not to explode. All was silent except for the occasional cough or clearing of the throat.

It must've been minutes until I spoke again.

I took a deep breath. "He's…I – I'm…not sure…"

"What do you mean, not sure?" Jake Mason from Hephaestus asked.

"Well, he wasn't in his cabin this morning, and he didn't turn up for meals or any of his classes. And…well I just searched for him, and he's nowhere around camp so…I'm not sure."

And all Hades broke loose.

The dining pavilion exploded into absolute chaos as people jumped from their seats and started running around like mad men.

Chiron was trying to restore order but that wasn't really working.

I just sat there, at the Athena table staring into space, thinking over what I had just said, _Where COULD he be?_

Eventually Chiron regained control, "CAMPERS! Calm down! I'm sure this is just some sort of misunderstanding. Annabeth has had a long day. I think we all need an early night tonight. If Percy isn't back by lunch tomorrow then we'll send out a search party around camp to look for him. For now I just think everybody should return to their cabins."

Reluctantly, campers retreated to their cabins. I trudged back to Cabin Six and collapsed on my bed.

"Annabeth, it's alright. I'm sure he'll be back in the morning." Malcolm tried to assure me, but it didn't work very well.

"Okay. Whatever. I'm fine. I'm gonna get ready for bed."

I got in the shower to rinse all the grime off of me. Once I was done I quickly slipped some pyjamas on and got into bed.

I closed my eyes and thought about the possible places he could be.

_Maybe he unexpectedly went to visit his dad? Or maybe he just went back to Manhattan to stay with his mum…_

But I knew I was just trying to convince myself of nothing.

_I'm a child of Athena. I need to be serious here. I can't be thinking of stupid excuses like this. _

But I couldn't help it.

This was one situation I was not prepared for.

This was one situation I wasn't ready to deal with.

This was one situation I didn't want to believe was true.

I didn't want to believe Percy was missing.

I fell asleep hoping that everything would be alright in the morning.

Hoping that maybe today had all been a dream.

Yes, a dream.

A very, VERY vivid dream.

Of course, being a demigod, I was never that lucky.

And with that, I drifted off into another dreamless sleep.


	4. Waiting

**Annabeth's POV**

The next morning at breakfast, there was still no sign of Percy.

I was starting to get seriously worried.

At least the campers were kind enough to not bother me about it and ask questions about him.

I kept thinking of that last night with Percy. Lying by the campfire, my head on his lap, his hands in my hair, a certain love goddess squealing her head off.

_I thought I told that damned goddess to stay out of my head._ I thought.

The memory made me sad. It reminded me of his warm embrace, his strong arms, his kind face, his soft lips and his eyes…his **amazing **sea-green eyes that reminded me of the sea. His eyes that reflected the world like a mirror, everything looked better in his eyes. Just like the firelight did that night…

_Stop Annabeth. You're going to kill yourself with sadness if you keep this up._

I went to my morning classes.

**Ancient Greek:** No Percy

**Strawberry Picking:** No Percy

**Monster Assault Techniques:** Still no Percy

**Greek Mythology:** STILL no Percy!

Then it was lunch. There was only one thing on my mind. If I haven't made it obvious enough, that one thing was Percy.

I remembered what Chiron had said last night at dinner, _"If Percy isn't back by lunch tomorrow then we'll send out a search party around camp to look for him."_

Well it's lunch, tomorrow, and there's no Percy.

I headed straight for the head table, marched right up to Chiron and said, "Chiron, it's lunch. Last night you said if Percy wasn't back by lunch we'd go search for him. In case you haven't noticed, he's still nowhere to be seen. Can we PLEASE go look for him?"

Chiron sighed. "Annabeth –"

"CHIRON!" I screamed, the dining pavilion went dead silent.

_That's been happening WAY too much recently._ I silently thought.

I took a deep breath and regained my composure.

"Sorry, but look. It's been more than a day. My boyfriend is missing and nobody has any clue where he is. I NEED to know where he is. And I'm pretty sure it's not just me. I bet most of your campers are worrying – even if it's just the slightest bit – as well. Please, please, PLEASE let me look for him."

"Alright Annabeth." He sighed, "If you have to make such a big deal about it I guess I can do that." He mumbled something to Mr D. that I didn't quite catch but it sounded something like, "And I'd really not prefer to have an angry daughter of Athena against me."

_Hades yeah you wouldn't._ I thought to myself.

"CAMPERS! Would anybody like to volunteer to go with Annabeth to look for Percy? Be aware you would be missing all of your afternoon classes up until whenever you came back."

The sound of missing the afternoon classes brought a smile to everyone's face. There was murmuring among the crowd but only a few people raised their hands.

I counted off the names in my head.

"I will." _Will Solace._

"Me too." _Jake Mason._

"Count us in!" _Stoll twins._

"Might as well." _Clarisse._

"Me too!" _Chris Rodriguez? Oh right Clarisse is coming…that makes sense._

"Okay that seems like enough people! Will, Jake, Connor, Travis, Clarisse and Chris will all accompany Annabeth in her search. If anything goes wrong report back here IMMEDIATELY. Now hurry along. And good luck."

Then I remembered, "Chiron, wait."

"Yes, Annabeth. What is it now?"

"Well, _yesterday_ I searched almost every inch of the property in search of Percy. I got absolutely nothing. What good will it do to just repeat that?"

"Hmm. Yes. Good point. But I really don't feel comfortable –"

"Why don't we – we being the search party – just meet up in the Big House after lunch and work out an actual game plan so we know where we're going with this? That seems like a better plan."

"Okay, Annabeth, I'm putting you in charge. After lunch the search party can meet in the Big House and discuss their game plan. Let Argus know if you need transport, and when you've figured out what you're doing, let me know as well. NOW BACK TO LUNCH!"

**(A/N) OKAY! Not my best chapter. But that chapter was kind of necessary. Hopefully my writing will improve from here. I have a big idea of where I want to go next, but I still might need another filler chapter… We'll see. Sorry about the waits, school's getting hectic and it's near the end of the term so everything's happening. I've been trying to update but it's not easy. I'm working on another story/songfic as well so you know. I'm doing my best. Thanks for everything. I love getting positive reviews!**

**-Percabeth-is-Endless**


	5. Iris Messaging

**I AM REALLY REALLY SORRY YOU GUYS! School's been a devil and I've had to overwork myself! I haven't had any time for writing! So I give you an extra long chapter today! Hopefully it meets your standards...  
And a shout out to guitar-goddess16. Thanks for all your support :).**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: PJO/HOO is and forever will be Rick Riordan's, which just so happens to NOT be my name.**

**Annabeth POV (Do I really have to keep writing that?)**

Lunch had ended and we were all sitting on the couches in the main room in the Big House. I was deep in thought about our next move.

"So Annabeth, seeing as you're in charge…what's the game plan?" Will Solace asked while sitting up from his relaxed position on one of the armchairs.

"Well, searching around camp is obviously a stupid idea. But I don't think we could just leave camp without a clue where we were going in search of him."

"Has anybody actually tried contacting him?" Asked Jake Mason.

"…No..." I face-palmed myself mentally. _Why hadn't I thought of that?_

"Well why don't we Iris-Message him? That'll tell us where he is." Jake said, standing up and walking towards the bathroom.

I stood up and followed suit. As I reached the bathroom Jake was turning on the shower hose and the other campers were filing in.

"Does anyone have a spare drachma?" Jake asked.

A cheeky grin spread across the Stoll's faces, "We do!" Travis exclaimed.

"I'm not even going to ask." I stated as I reached out and took the drachma from him.

I threw the coin into the steam rising from the shower water and said, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Accept my offering. Show me Perseus Jackson."

What happened next was something I had never seen before.

The drachma disappeared in the mist as usual but instead of an image of Percy materializing in the mist, a message popped up and a woman's voice read, _"Sorry, unable to connect at this time. Recipient is out of range. Please try again later."_ Then the message disappeared and the drachma that I threw in fell to the ground with a _*clang*_

"Out of range? What did she mean, '_recipient is out of range?_ '"Clarisse asked.

"I'm not sure…Iris Messages can reach pretty much anywhere. I don't understand." I replied. I felt a twinge of sadness. _How could he be out of range?_

"We'll try that again later. How else can we reach him?" Chris walked up from his position on the wall to Clarisse and put his arm around her.

_I remember when Percy did things like that…STOP IT._ I thought. _Don't kill yourself dwelling over the past. Focus on the future._

I brought myself back to the present. These guys were counting on me to lead them. I had to have a game plan.

I leaned down and picked up the drachma, "I have an idea."

I threw the drachma back into the steam and recited the lines, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Accept my offering. Show me Sally Jackson, Upper East Side, New York."

The mist shimmered before me and then an image of Percy's mother appeared. She was sitting at a table, holding a pen and staring at a piece of paper.

"Hi Sally." I smiled as she looked up. Sally always seemed to cheer me up. She was just so nice.

"Hello Annabeth, dear. Who are your friends?" She asked, gesturing to the people behind me.

"Oh! This is Jake, Will, Clarisse – who I think you've met before – Chris and Travis and Connor Stoll." I said while pointing to the respective campers.

"Hello Ms Jackson." They chorused.

"Hello dears. Please, call me Sally. 'Ms Jackson' makes me feel old." I smiled at this. "So how can I help you Annabeth?"

"Um, I was just wondering…" I then realised that I hadn't thought this plan out very well. What was I going to say? _Oh, Percy went missing a couple days ago and we were just wondering if he was with you. _That might scare her to death. Then again, what else was I going to say?

"…if Percy was with you. Like if he had happened to just pop over and stay with you recently."

Sally's smile faded and her happy expression was covered with one of worry, "No. Percy isn't here. Annabeth, what's happened?" Her face was now a mixture of deadly seriousness, and heart-breaking worry.

I couldn't hold it in. How could I keep this from Sally, probably the one person in the world that cares for Percy more than me?

_Wow. I sound like a lovesick daughter-of-Aphrodite._ As much as I didn't want to believe it, I knew it was true. I cared about Percy, a lot. And I knew he cared about me too.

So I emptied it all out. I explained everything that had happened in the past few days. The other campers filled in the little details that they knew but it was mainly me talking.

I tried my best to not get emotional but by the end of my little recount, my stomach was churning from all of the emotions stirring up inside me. I could feel myself slightly shaking.

_Hold it together. _ I told myself. _For Sally's sake._

I focused back of the image of the woman in front of me. Sally's face had paled and she was shaking violently. Next thing I knew she dropped her pen and burst out crying.

We all just looked at the Iris-Message in front of us. We waited patiently for Percy's mother to calm down.

She eventually regained control of her senses, "I'm…I'm sorry." She said in between sniffles, "It's just…is he really gone?"

I nodded my head sadly, "Yes."

"But don't worry Ms – I mean Sally! We'll find him!" Travis exclaimed with such enthusiasm that I laughed.

Even Sally cracked a smile, a sad, half-hearted smile, but still a smile, "I'm sure you will. I believe in you kids. You saved Manhattan for crying out loud. I know you're capable of this."

"Thank you." Will replied.

Sally took a deep breath and almost seemed back to her old self. "No, thank _you_. Now I should let you go. Find my son."

And with that, she waved her hand through the mist and her image disappeared.

I stood up a little straighter, with new found incentive.

I was going to find Percy, not just for me, but for Sally too.

"Well that didn't really get us anywhere…" Conner noted.

"Anybody have a next move?" Chris asked

"What about Percy's dad? I know he's a god and stuff…but you'd think he might know about one of his only sons…" Will answered.

"Good point. But…can you Iris Message a god? Is that even possible?" Jake replied.

"Well, I guess we're about to find out." I told them, while taking another drachma from the Stolls. I threw the ancient coin into the mist and recited the chant before saying: _show me Poseidon, god of the sea._

The mist shimmered and, to all of our reliefs, the image of what looked like an older version of Percy, only much bigger and wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian themed shirt shimmered into focus before us. His back was turned and so we just waited there, really awkwardly.

As we waited, I thought through how I would mention Percy's disappearance to him. _Surely he had to know _something_ about his disappearance_. If Poseidon didn't…I don't know who would.

Eventually, our ADHD got the best of us and Jake cleared his throat.

Poseidon jumped with surprise and turned around to face us.

"Children! How, can I be of assistance?"

We all bowed, "Lord Poseidon. Something happened recently that we thought you should know about. It involves your son…"

The sea god's eyes widened and his normal relaxed nature became one of concern. "Percy? What happened?"

"Um…he kind of…disappeared."

"DISAPPEARED! Explain this please!"

Will started explaining the situation. Somehow he had memorised the story from when I told Sally and he told the whole thing almost without fault.

"Annabeth…is this true?" Poseidon asked.

I wouldn't let myself meet his eyes. Sure I looked at his face, that way he wouldn't be able to tell my emotions that easily (I hoped) but not his eyes. Not his sea-green eyes.

I nodded slowly. "Yes. Every bit of it." I lowered my head and stared at my feet, worried that my eyes held too much emotion.

Not that I was the kind of person to let my **private** emotions show, but who knows what my eyes looked like at the moment? I sure felt like a wreck.

"Right. Well here's what I can tell you." My head snapped up, maybe a little too quickly, but I was excited, _maybe this would give us a lead._

"He's definitely not down here, in my palace. And sadly he isn't anywhere in the ocean either, or I would've been able to feel his presence."

My excitement quickly changed back to sadness as I realised that the information just given to us, didn't help at all.

Will, being the son of Apollo, the sun god, tried to put a sunny spin on the situation **(A/N: See what I did there? Huh? Huh?)**

"Well that just means two less places we have to look right?"

"I guess so. But you kids _are_ going to look right? You aren't just going to wave his disappearance off?"

"Are you kidding me?" I butted in, "Seriously, not to sound rude or anything but Percy is a very, very close friend, to all of us. His disappearance will not be taken lightly. I'll tell you now that I for one will be searching day and night, 24/7 until he is found."

Poseidon smiled. A good, cheerful smile. His eyes crinkled up from smiling too much and he bore his pearly-whites. I couldn't believe how much he looked like Percy. I mean sure, I always knew Percy was the spitting image of his father, but now, without him next to me, Poseidon seemed to the exact replica of his son.

I could feel my emotions stirring up again. This was all just too much to handle. I knew I had to stay strong, I knew that I couldn't make myself look vulnerable, not even for a second. I knew – especially being a daughter of Athena – that it wasn't wise to show your weaknesses but right now, not having Percy next to me to keep me grounded, I didn't know if I could do it.

Then I remembered what I had just told Poseidon. That I would search day and night until I found him, and I realised that maybe his disappearance was a good thing. Not a good thing as in it was good that he wasn't here, but maybe a good thing as in finding him could lead to something else, a new discovery. A new door had just opened up in my mind. Endless opportunities were filling my brain.

Then I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that something big was going to happen. I didn't know how big "big" was, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

I was suddenly aware that someone was shaking me "…Annabeth. ANNABETH!"

It was Clarisse, "Earth to Annabeth?" She waved her hand in front of my face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here, geez."

"You blanked out for a second. It was really weird, a soon as Poseidon smiled, your face just went blank. No-one had any idea what was happening."

I shrugged it off, "Whatever, I was just thinking."

"Okay…anyway. What's our next move to find Prissy? His parents certainly don't know anything."

"Is there anyone else that would know anything?" Chris asked.

"Right now, I think the more people we contact, the more worry we'll cause. We'll just be wasting our time."

The campers nodded their agreement and Jake reached to turn the water off.

"WAIT!" Will called.

Jake froze.

"What is it?" The twins chorused.

"If we're not going to Iris Message anyone else for information, maybe we should contact some people for help."

"Help?" asked Travis.

"What do you mean, 'help'?" Conner questioned.

"Well we're obviously going to have to go look for him, I mean Annabeth just promised a god that she would, and she can't do that alone. But maybe she shouldn't be the only one looking..." Will started shifting uncomfortably under everybody's questioning stares.

"WILL! Stop with the random clues! JUST TELL US WHAT YOU MEAN!" Clarisse was starting to get angry, and an angry daughter – or any child – of Ares was **not** a person you wanted to meet.

Will gulped, "Okay, geez." He calmed down, "Maybe we should call the Huntresses. Maybe they could look for him on their journeys."

There was silence while everybody thought about how genius the idea was.

All I could feel was jealousy, _how come a child of Apollo could think of that and I, daughter of the wisdom goddess didn't? That's happened twice today. Ugh, what's happening to my brain?_

"Okay, let's do it. I'm sure Thalia at least would help, I mean she's one of Percy best friends, and his cousin."

Somehow, the Stoll's managed another drachma and threw it into the mist.

"Thalia Grace, Huntress of Artemis." I requested.

The mist shimmered and then a profile view of a teenage girl with a punk/Goth style about her came into view. She had her bow drawn and seemed to be focusing intently on something in front of her.

All of us were silent, as we focused on the girl in front of us. We silently decided to let her focus…until one of the Stolls (of course it was them) decided it would be funny to make a really loud and unnatural noise.

Thalia jumped in surprise and her arrow shot in completely the opposite direction to what she was aiming for.

She turned towards us with an agitated expression on her face. The Stolls, Chris, Jake and Will were having a laughing fit behind me.

"STOLLS!" Everyone immediately shut up with one look at the fury in her eyes. They seemed to flash with lightning, something she must've inherited from her father.

Thalia then looked over at me and her expression softened. "Hey Annie." She smiled.

I returned the smile, "Hey Thals. What's up?"

"Oh nothing much. Where's that Kelp Head boyfriend of yours?"

My smile dropped as soon as she said "Kelp". She noticed this and her face turned serious.

"Annabeth…?"

I tried to look innocent, "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. What do you mean?"

"Annie, you're a horrible liar. Where's Perce?"

Will nudged me, "C'mon, this is what we called her for."

I took a deep breath and regained my senses, "Percy's missing. 2 days ago, we woke up and he was just…gone."

Thalia's expression became one of disbelief. "You're joking right?"

I shook my head sadly.

"No Thalia," Jake said, "It's the cold hard truth."

Her face changed into a more thoughtful expression as she sat herself down on a rock. "Have you asked Sally about this?"

"Yeah, we just called her before. We didn't get any information, only a boatload of worry. The same thing happened with Poseidon."

Thalia's ever-changing face changed yet again, this time into shock, "You're telling me, the Sea God doesn't know a _thing_ about the disappearance of his son? Wow, this must be serious."

Will was the next one to talk, "So we thought we should call you to ask if you guys could keep an eye out for him while you're hunting. Who knows where he is."

She stood up again, her expression determined, but she nodded her head.

"Yeah sure, no worries. It's just…wow. Perce… That son of Poseidon really is a Kelp Head. I hope he's okay."

"Yeah me too."

The daughter of Zeus smiled, "Don't worry Annie, Percy can be smart when he wants to be. He'll come back. I'm sure of it."

Once again, I returned her smile. "Thanks, I'll let you get back to your hunting now, sorry about the Stoll's before."

She laughed, "Ha, no worries it's okay, but next time I visit camp, they're gonna pay."

Her eyes had a mischievous twinkle in them that reminded me a lot of Percy, I didn't know if it was a Big Three thing or just because their personalities were so alike but I felt a wave of longing begin to come over me, which I ignored. I realised that I'd been doing that a lot: putting off my emotions, I didn't want to show weakness, that was one of the most important rules of the battlefield. That and, _never let your opponent distract you._

"I wouldn't expect anything different." I laughed back and felt the Stolls tense behind me, making me laugh harder.

Will, Jake, Chris and Clarisse joined in on the laughter and for a moment it felt just like old times, when we would joke around and enjoy ourselves, but then I remembered that Percy was gone, and nobody had a clue where he was. This brought me back to reality.

We eventually finished our laughing fit and said our goodbyes, but not before Thalia gave me a look. It was a rare look that I had only seen a couple of times, but it was a very meaningful look, and always meant something different. Right now the message was clear as crystal, _"We'll find him."_

From this look I instantly knew she was about as determined as I was to find Percy.

I smiled as I waved my hand through the mist and Thalia's image disappeared. I was more reassured that we would find him now.

Jake turned the water off and we all retreated to the main room of the Big House.

We dropped down on the various seats in the room and were quiet for a while, it wasn't an awkward silence but it wasn't a comfortable silence either. It was more of a silence that said, _"Well what do we do now?"_ and everybody seemed to realise that because as I scanned the faces, everyone – even the Hermes children – had thoughtful looks on their faces.

It was right then and there that I realised it, though I had no idea why.

Percy's disappearance WOULD lead to a new discovery. It would lead to an event that we probably weren't even prepared for.

I also noticed that as much as I thought Percy's disappearance affected me, there were plenty of other people who were going to be badly affected from it. There were plenty of people that would miss his sarcastic remarks, his laid-back personality and his rebellious streak.

That's why right then and there; I promised myself that I would stop at nothing to find him.

I would let nothing come in my way.

I promised myself that I was going to find Percy Jackson if it was the last thing I did.

…**So was it worth the wait? I'm not sure, I mean just because it was loooong, doesn't mean it was GOOD. Anyways, I'm going to try and update more regularly now, school ends this week and then I'll be on winter break for 3 weeks. Except I'm going on holiday for the first 10 days…anyways we'll see how it works out.**

**Until next time. :)**

**-Percabeth-is-Endless**

**P.S My pen name? It's a true fact and you know it.**


	6. I Know We Will

**Disclaimer: PJO isn't mine. There I said it. Happy? Good.**

**Annabeth POV**

The rest of the day was just about as unproductive as the beginning.

We tried Iris Messaging Percy again to see if he was "in range" but to no avail.

Then we went back to Chiron and reported our findings. All of us took turns explaining the events since lunch. Luckily for us, he didn't have any classes to teach so we had his full attention.

After we were done explaining, we saw his facial expression was genuine worry.

_Great._ I thought to myself. _Another person we've worried._

"Well this certainly isn't like anything I've experienced before. In all my years of teaching I've never heard of an Iris Message being 'out of range'." He shifted on his hooves uncomfortably, "I suggest, as dangerous as it is, that a few of you go into Manhattan and just search around to see if he's there."

I thought about it for a second, "So you want _seven_ demigods to go into Manhattan and search for him? _Seven_? Do you know how many monsters that will attract?"

"Yes, yes. I understand." Chiron said while waving his hand dismissively, "Okay, do any of you _not_ want to go into town to search for Percy?"

That was when Chris and Clarisse made some really bad excuse for why they couldn't come before awkwardly walking away towards the forest.

Why they were going to the forest, I didn't know but I had a pretty good feeling that it wasn't because they wanted some extra monster hunting practice.

So as Jake, Will and the Stolls went off to ask Argus to drive us, I pulled Chiron aside.

"What is it my dear?"

"I've been thinking…seeing as we're going into Manhattan, maybe we should take the opportunity to go visit Olympus..."

"Yes, yes. But who knows what could be happening up there? We haven't gotten any communication from _any_ of the Olympians since last month!"

"…Well maybe this is our chance to find out."

Chiron sighed, "Alright, just promise me you'll be careful, I don't need any more drama right now."

"I promise that I'll be careful. Don't worry Chiron, we'll find him." I said while putting a hand on is shoulder. I found it really ironic that _I_ was the one comforting _him_ when it should probably be the other way around.

His tired eyes had a distant look in them and he stared up at Thalia's Pine. I took my hand back and stared over his shoulder at cluster of cabins. As I scanned the odd buildings, my gaze fell on the Poseidon cabin, and I felt the wrenching pain in my heart grow stronger and my feelings becoming more overwhelming, threatening to spill out.

I forced the feelings down. I couldn't expose my emotions, not here, not now. Right now I need to focus on finding Percy. He couldn't be that far away.

"I know we will."

**(A.N.) REALLY short chappie I know but this one seemed like it only needed to be short. Things will get longer as the stories go on, just bear with me for now.  
And to all of you guys who keep asking for it, don't worry, Annabeth will let her emotions out eventually, just not yet. I think we all know from the books that she isn't one to show emotion that easily, well at least that's what I thought, and that's how I'm writing it. But don't worry, I already know when her "breakdown" will happen.  
PLEASE bear with me! I know I'm not the fastest updater but I'm trying. I really am.  
Anyways you know what to do (REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!)**

**Until next chapter,**

**Percabeth-is-Endless**


	7. Searching Manhattan

**Disclaimer: PJO IS MINE! MWWAHAHAHAHA I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN SOMEDAY! YESS!**

**-In case you didn't notice, ^ that is a complete lie. Unfortunately I don't own PJO/HOO. Stupid Uncle Rick. The only person I own is Ronald, the desk guy (don't worry you'll get it later).**

**Annabeth POV**

Argus dropped us off around the outskirts of New York and let us know that he would be back to pick us up in around dinner time at camp, which would be in around five hours.

As soon as the van was out of sight, the Stolls – both wearing _very_ mischievous and suspicious expressions – told us, "We're just going to raid— no! _visit_ a candy store downtown."

They sped off around the corner before the remaining three of us could protest.

"And then there were three." Jake said, breaking the silence.

Will laughed and I cracked a smile, but the happiness was short lived – for me anyway – when I remembered the seriousness of the situation.

"Okay, where to first?" Will asked after he and Jake had stopped laughing.

"Central Park?" Jake offered.

My throat went tight. Central Park brought back memories. Memories of the months after the second Titan War. When Percy and I were both living in New York and we'd go to Central Park on the weekends to unwind.

_Annabeth, STOP IT. Stay strong. _I thought to myself. My conscience was right. I focused on the present and _not_ the memories.

"Sure, that's a good place to start. But wherever we search, we have to leave in a bit of time later to go visit Olympus."

"Olympus? Why?"

I quickly explained to them what I had told Chiron earlier. They both nodded in understanding and then we set off on foot to Central Park.

The only thing that search accomplished was a greater heart-ache for me, _especially_ when we searched the Great Lawn. I thought back to when Percy and I were relaxing there the month after the Titan War.*

Again I forced my emotions down, but I knew that it wasn't wise to keep bottling everything up.

_Just a little while longer._ I told myself.

We continued our search and looked pretty much everywhere actually, including Goode.

After gaining **nothing **from our searching, we decided to check in on Sally.

As we entered the apartment, we saw she wasn't doing so well. Her usually twinkling eyes had no sparkle and were red and puffy as if she had been crying…A LOT. She looked a lot more stressed than usual. As we arrived her face lightened up a bit, but the longing and sadness in her attitude was obvious. She still smelt of chocolate chip cookies though, and I saw tray of her infamous blue cookies sitting on the kitchen counter.

It was as if she had baked them especially for Percy, hoping that the smell of the fresh cookies would bring him home.

We talked with her for a while and explained what we had gathered from the other Iris Messages (which was pretty much **nothing**). She suggested we check their usual cabin at Montauk. Why Percy would be there, we had no idea, but Sally knew he absolutely LOVED the place.

After eating a couple of her cookies, we promised we'd check Montauk and then left a wretched mother sitting on a couch staring out the window with a distant look in her eyes.

I found my heartache growing even more while looking at Sally, she reminded me of her son so much and then I was reminded of the promise I made to myself earlier that day. I was going to find Percy not just for myself, but for Sally too. She looked about as miserable as I felt, except I didn't show it…I hoped.

We decided that it was best to go visit Montauk now because we still had a while left before Argus was going to pick us up.

I pulled out some mortal money I had stashed in my backpack and waved over a taxi. During the ride there, Jake and Will both kept cracking jokes to lighten the mood and it worked. My mind didn't focus on the problem at hand and I felt like a normal teenage girl, having fun with her friends.

When we arrived at Montauk, though, the heart-ache returned and my temporary carefree attitude vanished.

"Do you want me to wait for you guys?" The taxi driver asked.

I was frozen, staring at the ocean and I couldn't speak so Will did the talking.

"Um…you could if you want to. I'm not really sure how long we're going to be here."

"That's okay. I'll wait. But I possibly won't be here when you come back."

Will nodded in understanding and paid the driver just in case. Then he and Jake turned so we were all facing the same direction.

I looked out across the 2 miles of beach and felt the cool breeze on my face. It took a deep breath in and out, taking in the salty sea air. It was easy to see how Percy could like this place. Not only was the beach beautiful, but it had this calm feeling to it and it was just so relaxing. It seemed like the perfect place for a demigod to escape from the reality or life and just unwind.

And that was all on top of the fact that he was a son of Poseidon.

We searched the entire beach. We made our way to the campfire pit and found nothing but some charcoal.

Then we checked the cabins.

I knocked on the door just to make sure there was nobody in there and when I got no answer, I opened it.

The first thing I saw made me jump out of my skin, "AAAAAH!"

"WHAT? What is it?" Will asked.

I started shaking violently but I couldn't speak.

Jake put a hand on my shoulder in a failed effort to calm me down, "Annabeth? Are you alright?"

"Sp-sp-sp-spi…" I couldn't get the word out but I raised my arm –which was still shaking violently—in the direction of the horrifying beast.

Will pushed in front of me to get a better look at the room. Then the realisation dawned on him, "Oh. You mean _spider_."

I covered my ears as soon as he said that ghastly word, "DON'T say it!"

Will rose his hands as a sign of innocence, "Okay, okay I'm sorry."

Jake decided to step in, "Okay, why don't Will and I go check for more…eight-legged creatures and you stay here?"

I nodded stiffly and Jake and Will entered the cabin.

They came out about a minute later with nothing.

I told them to check all of the other cabins in case he was there for some reason, and that didn't take long at all.

By the time we got back to the place that we had left the cab, the only thing we had achieved was…nothing.

As we reached the taxi, we were happy to find that the driver was still there, waiting for us.

"Thanks for waiting!" Will said cheerfully.

"No worries, my iPhone had plenty of games for me to play on."

We all kind-of laughed at that as we climbed in the cab.

"Empire State Building please." I requested.

"You got it."

The ride once again was filled with laughter as Jake and Will joked with the cab driver. I once again forgot about my problems and got lost in the moment.

It felt nice, like I was free of stress and everything was okay. It felt just like that night of the second Titan War…oh gods.

The memories rushed over me with such force that I almost had no time to push them away. Then I realised that they were just going to keep getting worse and worse until I let them overcome me…but I couldn't let it happen now.

We pulled up outside the entrance to the Empire State Building and I paid the driver plus a massive tip. We watched as he drove off and then turned around to face the entrance.

Upon entering, I couldn't help remembering when this foyer was used as a medical camp for all those fighting for Olympus in the second Titan War. It seemed so long ago that Leneus **(A.N. did I spell that right?)** was transformed into a plant before our eyes. I snapped myself back to the present and looked at my two companions. Both of their faces had the same expression that mine probably had; sombre and remembering the fight of our lives.

However I couldn't push the feeling in my gut that the worst was yet to come.

We marched right up to the front desk where the bored-out-of-his-mind employee watched us approach. He had a name tag that read _Ronald_ so I decided that, that was his name.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"600th floor please." Jake replied.

Ronald's eyes shone playfully as he told us, "Sorry. 600th floor? Ha, that doesn't exist."

"Come on dude. We know your lying. We're demigods, we need to get to Olympus." Will whined like a little toddler and I laughed, as did Jake. Will smiled at our laughter but the annoying desk guy just remained expressionless with a poker face.

"Sorry. I think you might be high or something. There's no such thing as the 600th floor."

I pulled out my dagger and started fiddling with it, "Are you sure?"

Ronald smiled, "Nice try but you don't scare me with your bronze dagger." He said while wiggling his fingers in my direction.

I raised my eyebrow as Jake and Will decided to mess with this guy.

"Oooh." Jake said, "You really shouldn't have said that."

"Yeah, an angry daughter of Athena is the last person you want as an enemy."

"Mmhmm."

I looked him right in the eyes and gave him a menacing glare.

Ronald gulped and out of the corner of my eye I saw his hand shaking as he reached for the key.

"H-here ya go." He stuttered.

I put on a sweet smile and thanked him as I rushed off, giving Jake and Will hi-fives behind me.

We entered the elevator and I swiped the card. As the button appeared, Jake and Will both dived for it and soon enough were fighting like little kids.

I smiled as I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

Next thing I knew they were having a full on thumb war. That's right, A THUMB WAR.

I faced palmed my forehead as I laughed and slid my hand down my face. As I leaned against the side of the elevator, Will won the war and put a smug grin on his face.

"You guys are so naïve." I told them as Will hit the button.

Nothing happened.

He pressed it again.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

He started pressing it vigorously, multiple times.

Nothing.

"What in Apollo's name is wrong with this button?"

"You're doing it wrong!" Jake exclaimed as he shoved Will out of the way and started pressing the button.

"Jake, I actually don't think there is a _wrong_ way to press a button." I noted.

"Whatever… wow this button is really broken."

I reached forward and slapped Jake's hand away. Then I pressed the button and held down on it for a couple of seconds before letting go.

The good news was that my method accomplished something.

The bad news was the 'accomplishment' was making the button spark and smoke.

I quickly opened the elevator doors and hurried over to the front desk, Jake and Will trailing closely behind.

"Excuse me but–"

"Ugh, you guys again? What do you want now?"

"The 600th floor button isn't working."

"Really? Hmm…Oh! That's because Olympus is closed."

The three of us stared at Ronald in shock before – in unison – yelling, "WHAT?"

"Olympus. Home of the gods. Up there." At this point he was pointing his fingers upwards, "It's closed. Zeus' orders."

"How do we know you're not just saying that?"

He picked up a sticky note and handed it to me, "Because he wrote it on this sticky note. Look he even signed it!" As he said the last sentence he pointed to a squiggly character at the bottom of the note, which – apparently – was Zeus' signature.

I read the sticky-note in my head:

_Dear staff of the Empire State Building,_

_Please alert any demigods or mythological creatures that Olympus is temporarily closed and all God to Earth contact has been prohibited._

_Have a nice day!_

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Zeus, King of the Gods._

_{Insert signature here}_

"Huh. Well that explains just about the whole of last month." I realised as I passed the note to the others.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"Haven't you noticed the lack of communication the gods have been sending us? I mean it's even less than usual. Sure demigods get claimed but that's it."

We all stood there for a moment in silence. Then I pocketed the sticky note and turned to leave when Ronald said, "Hey! I need that note!"

"Oh come on. You've put us through enough trouble today. I think we deserve this note."

"Nope. You're not getting it."

An idea clicked in my mind, "Can I take a photo of it?"

"Yeah sure whatever."

I whipped out my phone and turned the camera on, all the while praying to the gods – even though they probably wouldn't be listening – that this small action wouldn't attract any monsters. We'd had a lucky run so far and no monsters had come near us but I still didn't want to take too many chances.

_Oh well._ I thought. _We can handle the monsters._

I took a picture of the note, making sure that all of the writing was visible and easy to read and then I gave it back to Ronald.

"C'mon guys, let's go meet Argus." I said while turning around.

…This….is…..a…..linebreak…

As we turned the corner to get to the place that Argus was going to pick us up, the first thing we saw were two identical looking boys holding –and fighting over—a paper bag that had the words, _'Sweet on America'_ on it.

That's right. Travis and Conner were fighting over candy.

_And I thought Jake and Will were naïve. _I thought.

Conner spotted us eventually and let go of the bag, sending Travis flying backwards and hitting the pavement.

All of us –except Travis who was still trying to get up—burst into a fit of laughter. We were still doubled over and laughing when Argus pulled up next to the curb, all of his eyes looking at us questioningly.

We got into the strawberry van and Travis had an angry/defeated expression plastered on his face. He plopped himself down in the seat in the back corner and stayed quiet while the rest of us talked and laughed like there was not a care in the world.

Conner –who had taken possession of the candy bag—shared the candy around. As the bag got to me, I looked in and saw a mound of blue candy which made my heart ache and yearn for Percy. I tried to ignore it and gulped it down as I took a handful of the sweet candy and ate it. Hopefully my emotions didn't show on my face.

We continued talking and laughing and eventually Travis came around and started joking around with us. It felt just like it had a couple of months ago. The Titan War had ended. We had won. Percy wasn't immortal and everything was calm. Right now, it felt as if we were normal teenagers, our biggest worry was homework and school and we didn't have a care in the world.

But everyone else didn't know about how, the whole drive, I kept pushing the memories and emotions behind me as I tried desperately not to get overwhelmed.

I knew I couldn't hold out much longer. I would have to let it all out soon enough.

_Soon._ I promised myself. _Soon, but not yet._

***This is from one of the stories in Demigod Diaries. It's just what I gathered from the 6 lines Rick leaked to us. That freaking troll.**

**Did you like it? As you can see, I'm trying to build up to the emotional Annabeth, but that chapter is still a few chapters away. I think some of you guys will be excited about the visitor who comes in the next chapter. I know a few of you requested him…**

**ANYWAYS! Thanks for all of your love and support with this story. Right now it's hard to update because I'm on holiday (as in overseas and not in my house) and have to find time to write but I'M TRYING!  
If you want me to upload sooner…REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW IS THE MAGIC WORD!**

**You read my story,  
And I hope you liked it!  
But I don't know that,  
SO REVIEW MAYBE.**


	8. Come In With The Rain

**Before I start, I'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews I'm getting. And to all the Anonymous reviewers who I can't reply to: THANK YOU!  
I love to thank guitar-goddess16 for her lovely support and constructive criticism which is greatly appreciated.  
And also Chenoamisae who's review pretty much made my day. :)**

**AND TO EVERYONE ELSE: I LOVE YOU GUYS! YOU ARE THE REASON I CONTINUE THIS STORY *kisses* I GIVE YOU ALL A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF BLUE VIRTUAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. **

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I also do not own Heroes of Olympus. I also do not own any of Taylor Swift's songs. Got it? Great. On with the story.**

…...

**Annabeth POV**

As we arrived back at camp and got out of the van, dinner had just started. Luckily we had finished all of the candy so we just threw out the bag and then went to join the lines of our respective cabins.

As I lead my cabin to the dining pavilion, I caught Chiron's eyes. They seemed to have a look in them similar to Sally's, but the pain wasn't as strong. Don't get me wrong, there was a very evident pain in his eyes, but the pain of a mother losing her only child always come out much worse than a teacher losing one of his favourite students.

Chiron gave me a look that said, _"Did you find anything? Anything at all?"_

I shook my head sadly and then dropped his gaze because it wouldn't be much longer until a wave of my own sadness would overwhelm me.

I turned back to face the dining pavilion and then felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. I turned slightly to find Malcolm looking at me with a sympathetic look on his face.

"It's alright Annie. It's Percy we're talking about. He'll come back. He always does."

I smiled. I was so lucky to have great friends/half-siblings.

"Thanks."

He rubbed my back and then took his hand back. As we sat down at the Athena table, Chiron got up to say the evening's announcements.

"Good evening campers!" You could tell from his voice that he was forcing the enthusiasm because he knew it wouldn't come out by itself.

"Hi Chiron." Came the usual, droned reply.

"Let's start dinner off with some claiming shall we?"

We waited patiently for the floating symbols to appear above the new camper's heads.

Tracy Miller, Demeter.*

Jack Nolan, Apollo.*

Billy Sheridan, Hermes.*

After the three new campers had been claimed, Chiron continued with the usual announcements. Then he did something I wasn't ready for in the least.

"…and lastly, I would like Annabeth to tell you about some recent unfortunate news. Annabeth, would you please?"

For a second I was dumbstruck, staring at Chiron questioningly. I gave him a look that said, _"Why?"_ and then got up and walked to the podium.

"Hey guys." I waved.

"Hi Annabeth." Came the response in the same voice tone they had given Chiron.

I let out a small, half-hearted laugh before continuing. "So, um, as most of you know, a couple days ago, Percy went missing."

There was a small collective gasp from the campers – I guess it was delayed shock or something – but the newbies who didn't know Percy gave me questioning looks and looked around at the others to see their reactions. I saw some of the older campers explaining to them who he was and what had happened for which I was thankful because I really didn't think _I_ could repeat that story again.

"We've tried contacting him every way we know how. We've called his mother and Lord Poseidon but neither have any idea. Today Will, Jake and I went into Manhattan to look for him–"

I was interrupted from a clearing of the throat from the Stoll's direction.

I glared at them while saying, "_The Stolls_, Will, Jake and I went into Manhattan to look for him, but we found nothing. We tried going up to Olympus to speak with the gods but apparently it's closed on Zeus' orders–"

"Annabeth?" Chiron interrupted, "What do you mean Olympus is _closed_?"

"Well Chiron," Everybody turned to the Apollo table where Will was explaining the story, "We got the key card and went into the elevator, but the 600th floor button wouldn't work so we went back out to Ronald, the desk guy, and he told us that Zeus has had Olympus closed. Then he showed us this sticky note that said Olympus is closed and all God-to-Earth contact has been forbidden. Annabeth took a picture of the note because Ronald said we couldn't keep it and then we left."

A lot of the new campers who didn't know about Olympus being above the Empire State Building had some of the most confused faces I had ever seen. It was a little amusing actually; the leaders of their tables were trying to explain it as simply and as quickly as they could. The new campers kept asking questions which the leaders would try to explain.

Chiron just nodded, confirming that he understood but then gave me a look that said, _"We need to talk about this"_ before motioning for me to continue.

"Yeah, so we found out that Olympus is closed, which didn't help the situation _at all_. Nobody that he knows has the slightest idea where he's gone, or if…if he's even alive…"

I trailed off as realisation dawned on some of the campers faces.

_Percy might not even be alive. We don't have any proof that he is._

I took a deep breath and pressed on, pushing back the emotions that were nagging at the walls I had put up to block them out.

_Not yet._ I told the feelings. _Not yet._

"But we're not giving up." I said that with new found passion and some of the campers got hopeful expressions.

Then one of the campers – that knew Percy well – piped up, "It's not like he hasn't disappeared before. He's come back every other time."

Lots of campers that knew Percy started nodding in agreement. My body started filling up with hope; I wasn't alone in this mess. Percy had all of his friends at this camp, friends that he had known since he was twelve. He had loyal friends that cared about him. I suddenly had more hope than ever that we would find him.

Then out of nowhere I heard footsteps. The footsteps silenced the pavilion so much you could've heard a pin drop.

I looked up to see none other than Nico DiAngelo dressed in his signature army jacket and camo pants walking towards me with a confused/worried expression on his face.

It was as if he had just appeared out of the shadows, which was highly possible considering that the son of Hades could shadow-travel.

As he walked by, the new campers started whispering to each other nervously. They hadn't met Nico before and the presence of such a powerful demigod probably wouldn't have been the most comfortable feeling.

_If only they had known Percy._ I thought to myself.

He stopped a couple of feet away from the podium and looked up at me "So Perce is missing?" He asked innocently.

I nodded, "And has been for about two-and-a-half days."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The he raised both of his hands to about eye level and paused as if waiting for something. His face had turned from its previous expression to one of concentration.

The pavilion was silent and watching in awe and confusion. Then suddenly, Nico's face relaxed and he spoke confidently, "He's not dead, or in the Underworld for that matter. I know that much for sure."

I let relief wash over me and saw that many of the other campers were doing the same.

"But you really have no idea where he is?" Nico asked.

I shook my head, "None whatsoever. We have Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis looking for him as well, but so far, we don't have the slightest clue."

I saw his face drop, as did many of the other campers'.

The pavilion was silent for Zeus knows how long as all the campers sat there, in shock, taking in the news. I returned to my seat and took in a shaky breath.

Chiron finally broke the silence. "Okay well I think that's enough bad news for one night. Nico, my boy, welcome back. How long will you be staying with us?"

"Not very long. I think just overnight. I'm doing something for my father that required me to be in New York and I needed a place to stay overnight and I reckoned Camp Half-Blood fit the bill pretty well."

"Well you're welcome to stay as long as you need. Your cabin is always open." Both he and Nico shared a good-natured smile as Chiron returned to the podium and Nico turned and sat at the Hades table.

When he sat down, Nico shot me a glance that clearly said, _"We need to find him."_

I had always known that Percy had a soft spot for Nico. That winter that I was kidnapped, and Bianca had died, Percy had told me about his promise to Nico. Ever since then, he had tried to make it up to him, and even now Percy didn't feel that he had done that. Over the years the two boys had grown fond of each other and made a strong, brotherly bond.

I knew Nico was worried of Percy's disappearance, so in an attempt to reassure him, I sent him a look in reply that said, _"We will."_

Dinner then continued as normal. I prayed to my mother again for guidance, hoping that she would help even though she didn't really like Percy that much.

Sure, after the second Titan War had happened she had softened up to him a little – I guessed it was because of his impressive, on-the-spot speech he gave about why immortality didn't appeal to him – but she still had this thing against him, because – as she would call it –, "He is the son of the Sea Spawn".

I couldn't bring myself to go to campfire that night; neither could a lot of the older campers that had known Percy well.

A lot of the older campers that knew Percy came up to be and gave me sympathy. I was thankful for it at first, but then I started getting annoyed.

_Their sympathy won't bring him back. It'll only make me feel worse._

So I eventually returned to my cabin and went to take a shower. I stood under the warm water and let it wash away all my emotions. For a moment, I forgot about everything, all my problems, all of my friends, everything and just got lost in the moment.

The water trickled down my skin and soothed me. I closed my eyes and sighed.

_Why couldn't I just have a normal life?  
Why did I have to be a demigod? _

_If I wasn't a demigod, I wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place._

_I wouldn't have had to run away from a horrible step mother and uncaring father when I was seven. _

_I wouldn't have had to face endless amounts of monsters. Monsters who wouldn't have hesitated to kill me had they had the chance._

_I wouldn't have been betrayed and had my heart broken by the boy that had protected me and cared for me. The boy that I had trusted and turned to when there was nobody else (except for Thalia of course)._

_Then again, if I wasn't a demigod…I wouldn't have gone on all of the amazing adventures I had gone on._

_I wouldn't have met all the wonderful people that are such a big part of my life today._

_If I wasn't a demigod…I wouldn't have met Percy Jackson._

I sighed again and shut the water off.

_My life is such a jumbled mess right now._

I dried myself off and did the usual bedtime routine.

As I climbed into my bunk – which was right next to a window – I noticed that as well as the usual, light layer of snow that Chiron was letting in (he said it was so we could get more of a "winter effect" or something), it was also raining lightly. I guessed it was because the news about Percy didn't really have everybody in a good mood and rain just seemed to suit right now.

I felt my mind drift to Percy and the more I thought, the more the emotions built up inside of me. I began to push them back when I realised that everyone else was already asleep and I had been bottling up my feelings for at least two days. This was a perfect opportunity to let go.

But I decided against staying in my cabin, only for fear of my half-siblings waking up and seeing me in my distress.

So, while remaining deadly silent, I slipped out of bed and crept towards the door. When I reached it, I turned the knob and felt the cool breeze tickle my face. I quickly stepped out onto the steps and closed the door softly as I made my way down to the damp grass.

I found myself being drawn to the Poseidon Cabin and started walking over there. The cold breeze that was coming from the ocean made me shiver and I found myself imaging Percy's strong, warm embrace around me.

_If only he was here._

As I entered the cabin, I saw that it was just like how I had seen it a couple of days ago: as if some magical cleaning fairies had come in and fixed the place up.

I walked over to his bed and uncovered the sheets. I climbed under and was really happy to find that they still felt warm – as if Percy had just slept in them – and smelt like Percy; a calm, sea breeze mixed with the scent of chocolate-chip cookies.

I took in a deep breath and inhaled his scent, holding on to it as long as I could for fear that if I let go of it, it would be gone forever.

_Oh Percy. Where are you?_

I looked towards the window – which, unlike my cabin, was on the other side of the room – to see the rain falling heavier now. I got out of the bed and walked over to it, pressing my hand onto the chilly glass once I reached it.

Seeing that the window was quite long and was placed in a corner, I slid my back down against the wall until I was sitting on the floor. I opened the window a little bit so a few rain droplets could fall in to the room.

As the window opened, the cabin grew colder so I got up and walked over to the dresser. I got out one of Percy's big hoodie jumpers and put it on, it warmed me up right away and also (much like his bed) smelt like him.

For a moment I let myself believe that instead of Percy's jumper, it was Percy himself warming me up now. I stayed in this fantasy for a while as I returned to the position I was in before.

I closed my eyes and focused on the cool rain that was falling on my skin.

For some reason, sitting in this peaceful moment, with only the soft sound of the rain to interrupt my thoughts, the lyrics to a song started flowing through my head.

I had heard it a couple of times but the song didn't really click for me…until now. Now the song just seemed to make my emotions worse.

And as the lyrics began, I felt the tears well up in my eyes, but I didn't fight them. I knew better than to fight them now.

_I could go back to every laugh.  
But I don't wanna go there anymore_.

I could go back and remember all the countless laughs we shared. But I don't want to because the memories are too painful to recall.

_And I know all the steps up to your door.  
But I don't wanna go there anymore._

I know the way to your apartment back in Manhattan, but I don't want to go there either because seeing Sally brings my heart to much pain. Even just sitting here in the Poseidon Cabin – which he would spend a fair amount of time in every year – was painful enough.

_Talk to the wind, talk to the sky.  
Talk to the man with the reasons why._

We've tried contacting the gods – no luck.  
Chiron – who seems to usually know just about everything (which frustrates me because being a daughter of Athena I like to know more things than I should) – doesn't have a clue either.

_Let me know what you find._

Everybody in camp is trying in some way. I know Percy's disappearance has affected them somehow. They'll keep me up to date if they find out anything, but I'll be the one doing most of the searching from the looks of it.

_I leave my window open,  
'Cause I'm too tired at night to call your name._

At night, I leave my window open because searching takes up too much of my energy during the day. I can't keep calling for you. I know you can't hear me.

_Just know I'm right here hoping,  
That you'll come in with the rain._

I hope somehow, wherever you are, you know that even though I'm not calling for you, I'm waiting. Hoping that you'll return.

_I could stand up and sing you a song.  
But I don't wanna have to go that far._

I could try singing to you to get your attention. But I doubt it would make a difference. I have a horrible voice for one thing and it's very unlikely that you would hear me anyway.

_And I, I've got you down,  
I know you by heart._

During the five years I've known you, I've come to know every single thing about you, inside and out.

_But you don't even know where I start._

Even though I know nothing of your disappearance, I have this weird feeling that you've forgotten me. You wouldn't even begin to know anything about me, let alone the pain I'm feeling right now.

_Talk to yourself, _

Talk to yourself, we've known each other for _five years_. You ought to know how I'm feeling, that is, if you haven't forgotten me.

_Talk to the tears_

Talk to the countless tears that are falling from my eyes right now. The saltwater mixing with the fresh rain drops on my cheeks. I didn't quite understand why my feelings were so strong. I mean sure, I like Percy, A LOT. And it was pretty obvious that he liked me too. But why were my feelings so strong?

I tried to wipe the saltwater out of my eyes because my vision was getting blurry, but the old tears were just replaced with new ones.

_Talk to the man who put you here._

Talk to whoever took you away from camp. From your family. From me. There has to be an explanation for this. Everything happens for a reason.

_Don't wait for the skies to clear._

Don't wait for the answers to come to you. Make them available. Get them as soon as you can. I need answers, answers for all this madness.

_I leave my window open,  
Cause I'm too tired at night to call your name._

I get tired. Tired from searching. Tired from all the questions. Tired from the memories. I get too tired in fact. Too tired.

_Just know I'm right here hoping,  
that you'll come in with the rain._

I'll wait patiently each night until you're back. No matter if it's sunny or raining. I'll wait, hoping that you'll return.

As the next lines played through my mind, the rain started falling much heavier. This was pretty much the climax of the song and so this dramatic change in rainfall fit perfectly.

Although it didn't make me feel any better.

At all.

_I've watched you so long,  
screamed your name._

I've tried contacting you in every way I know how.  
Nothing.  
I've gone all over New York and called your name.  
Nothing.

_I don't know what else I can say._

I honestly don't know what else I can say. Where else I can look. Who else I can call. I need some help. Don't leave me like this**

_I leave my window open,  
Cause I'm too tired at night for all these games_.

I'm too tired from everything. The energy drains from me more quickly than it should. I can't keep on playing these games. Right now, life feels like a big game of Hide & Seek. You're hiding and I'm seeking, except there is nobody else in this game to cheat and tell me where you're hiding, and no matter how many times I call for you, there is no reply. Life is just a big, endless game of Hide & Seek.

_Just know I'm right here hoping,  
that you'll come in with the rain._

I hope you can remember everything that we've been through. You know me better than any other person. You know how I hide my feelings, but you have also been there on the rare occasions that I've shown them. If you remember, you'll know I'll be waiting, hoping, every rainy night, that you'll come back home.

_I could go back to every laugh._

I could try and remember all the happiness we used to share. I could try and recall all of our wonderful adventures.

_But I don't wanna go there anymore._

…

*Don't you just LOVE my creative names? ;-)

**This is a kind of spoiler for the Annabeth breakdown chapter. Emphasis on the _KIND OF_. It's pretty vague though…

**Song Credit: **_**Come in With the Rain **_**– Taylor Swift**

**Don't worry. Next chapter's gonna be up real soon. I initially wasn't gonna end it here, but I actually really like this ending. So yeah. Deal with it. **

**Also, can you guys let me know what you thought of the little songfic I put in? I REALLY you're your opinions because it will have a big influence on this story in future chapters and my writing in general. :)**

**Until next time my lovely cherry-muffins ;)**

**Percabeth~is~Endless**


	9. Iris Messaging II

**NEXT CHAPTER! Thank you again for the lovely reviews. I hope you're enjoying your cookies ;)**

**And remember, with each new chapter, you're one step closer to Annabeth's breakdown. **

**Disclaimer: I'll make this simple for you. I DO NOT OWN PJO OR HOO. End of conversation.**

….

**Annabeth POV**

As the song in my mind ended, I let myself drift away from the fantasy state my mind had entered and returned to the present.

I was sitting on the floor of the Poseidon cabin, underneath an open window, while it was pouring rain outside, wearing one of Percy's hoodies and crying.

I didn't feel anything like Annabeth Chase. I felt like a character from one of those melodramatic soap-operas.

And I hated it.

I hated what my new reality had become.

I put that thought out of my head and tried to cut off the tears that were still falling from my eyes.

By the amount of saltwater that built up when I closed my eyes, I knew that my feelings were far from over. There were plenty still bottled up inside of me.

_Another time._ I told myself.

I opened my eyes again and was happy to find only a single tear fall and my eyes were dry. Well as dry as an eye can be after a waterfall of tears has just been cut off.

From my position with my back to the wall, I bent my knees and wrapped my arms around them. I took three deep breaths to stop my body from shaking and to fully recover control over my emotions.

After I had calmed myself down, I stood up. It was then that I realised how tired I actually was, but because of the rain, I decided it would be best if I just slept here, in the Poseidon cabin, for the night.

So – still wearing his jumper – I climbed into Percy's bed and pulled the covers up around me tightly. I took one more deep breath inhaled the sweet scent of the ocean before closing my eyes and allowing myself to drown in the wave of tiredness that was threatening to crash down on me.

I feel into a sleep.

A fitful and interrupted sleep.

But still a sleep.

I woke up really early the next day. _Much_ earlier than I should've.

This bugged me for three reasons:

**1. **I _HATE_ waking up early.

**2. **I went to sleep really late and woke up constantly last night so waking up early just meant that I was going to be more tired today.

**3. **There were more waking hours for me to dwell on Percy's disappearance.

I sat up in the bed and noticed that I felt a little better. I guess last night _had, _had some benefits (the raging heart-ache that had grown stronger was definitely **NOT** one of them), but I knew it wasn't enough. I still had _many_ emotions locked up inside of me and the remaining days until I Percy returned would only bring on new tears and heartache.

So right now my emotional life was like this:

Old pains + New pains = MAJOR EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN

How I was going to manage so long withoutletting anyone else see me in my distress I had no idea.

But I knew that _nobody_ could see my true feelings.

I couldn't make a fool of myself like that.*

I got up out of the bed and walked to the window.

It was still open from last night. The rain had subsided and the floor had dried up. I closed the window because the room was cold enough without the extra cold air flowing in.

Then I looked through the clear glass and saw that it was still quite dark outside but the first rays of light were beginning to appear.

I glanced at the clock on the table next to Percy's bed. The red LED numbers read 5:25 AM.

_Ugh. _ I thought. _Breakfast isn't for another two-hours-and-a-half._

I considered going back to sleep, but then I realised that there was a really minimal possibility that my body would let me sleep again.

_Stupid ADHD._

I plopped myself down on Percy's bed and put my head in my hands. I had to focus on the problem at hand: Percy's disappearance.

I reviewed what I knew:

He's not in the ocean.  
He's not in the Underworld.  
He's not in New York.  
He's probably not on Olympus.  
He's not dead.  
His parents have no clue what has happened.  
His friends know about as much as his parents.

I sighed. _This is getting me nowhere._

_Okay. Where are the possible places he __**could**__ be?_

…Anywhere. Anywhere except home.

I clenched my fists to control my frustration.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a soft blue glow.

I turned to find the glow coming from a sea stone fountain, placed in the back of the cabin** that I hadn't noticed before.

I stood up and walked over to it. I looked in and saw three golden coins, _drachmas_.

I picked one up and fingered it. Then I decided to call someone. I know I know, "_It's 5:30 in the morning! No-one will be awake!"_ But it was worth a shot.

I threw the drachma into the fountain and chanted the oath, _O Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Accept my offering. Show me Grover Underwood, Lord of Wild._

The mist shimmered and an image of a middle-aged satyr eating a Diet-Coke can appeared before me.

I didn't have time to wonder why he was awake at this hour because my ADHD impulse took over and I shouted, "GROVER!"

He jumped and turned towards me, his face completely scared. I laughed at his reaction and he said, "Annabeth! Why'd you scare me like that? And why are you awake?"

"I couldn't sleep and I needed something to cheer me up so that seemed like the perfect opportunity."

"Cheering up? What do you mean?" He looked like he was looking behind me, "And are you in Percy's cabin? Where is he?"

"Yes I am. And haven't you heard?"

He looked confused, "Heard what?"

"The news."

His expression didn't change but his eyes urged me on.

"About Percy."

His eyes widened at the sound of Percy's name, "No! What happened?"

I took a deep breath before continuing, "Percy's…Percy's missing."

His eyes grew wider (which I didn't think was possible) and he dropped his Diet-Coke can, "Missing? Missing as in gone? Disappeared?"

"Yeah. Missing as in nobody has any idea where the Hades he is."

"When did this happen?"

I explained the story to him. Everything that had happened from the morning I found his room empty to last night. I didn't explain how I cried though. That would remain a secret for only me to know.

I had to stop a couple of times to force the emotions back down. It turns out even though I let out some tears last night, recalling what had happened these past few days was more painful than I thought.

When I finished, he sat there for a while taking it all in.

After a while, he finally spoke up,"Wow. So…Wow. I'll try the empathy link soon and tell you if I find out anything.

I nodded, "Thanks. Where are you know?"

"I'm in Kansas believe it or not. Apparently, there's a daughter of Demeter living on one the farms around here."

"Do you mind keeping an eye out for Percy while you're there? I have no idea why on Earth he would be in Kansas, but there's no harm in trying right?"

"Right. Is that what you called for?"

"Is what?"

"The news about Perce."

I nodded again, "Yeah. Just to let you know."

He seemed to notice my sadness. Which made sense because being the satyr that he is, he was very empathetic. "Annabeth. It's alright. How many times has he disappeared before? And besides, the last time he disappeared, he was gone for _two weeks._"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But all those times, we had an idea where he if it was just the slightest clue. This time…this time there's nothing. Nothing at all."

I looked down at my shoes after catching him give me a smile. A sad smile, but still a smile."Don't worry Annie. This is Percy we're talking about. Perseus Jackson, the titan-slaying, almost immortal, all powerful, sixteen-year-old son of Poseidon."

- Just so you know, while he was describing Percy, he included some hand gestures that were probably the weirdest movements I've ever seen in my life –

"He's more than capable of taking care of himself."

I returned the smile, but mine had more happiness in it, "Well he probably _has_ dealt with more dangerous situations."

We both laughed and I felt happy. This was Grover. The loyal friend I had known since I was seven. If there was anybody that could cheer me up right now, it was Grover. He knew Percy just as well as I did, if not more.

"Well I should let you go now." He said.

I nodded, "Okay. But stay safe. I don't want another of my best friends disappearing on me."

I smiled and he returned it. "You got it." He replied with a wink and then I waved my hand through the mist.

For a second I just stared out the window. Then I turned around to look at the clock again, _5:38 AM._

I looked back down at the fountain and saw the other two golden drachmas sitting there. For some reason, only one name popped up in my head when I picked the next one up. _Tyson._

I tossed the coin into the mist and said the chant before requesting "_Tyson __**{insert last name here}**__. General of the Cyclops Army."_

The mist shimmered again and this time the image of a young Cyclops snoring soundly appeared before me.

"Tyson." I whispered.

Nothing.

"Tyson." I spoke normally.

Nothing.

"Tyson." I spoke in a little-louder-than-normal voice.

Nothing.

"TYSON!" I yelled.

His one eye flew open and next thing I knew he was in a battle stance holding his big club (or as he calls it his "stick") raised above his head.

Then he saw it was me and he dropped his club. His face grew into a huge grin and he shouted, "ANNABETH!" He looked about ready to hug me so I had to remind him this was an Iris-Message.

"Right. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm alright you?"

"Good. Tyson is helping in the forges. Making lots of swords."

I laughed at his use of third person. "That's good."

"How is Percy?" He was practically jumping about now.

I felt my face drop and he noticed this, "Annabeth? Is brother okay?"

I sighed and explained the past few days to him. He was a good listener and I watched as his expression grew from its normal cheerfulness to a more worried and glum expression.

"So brother is missing." His face turned to determination. "We must look for him. I am coming back to camp."

I was completely take off guard, "What? Now?"

"Yes. Brother is in trouble. I must help find him."

I smiled at the Cyclops. He was a very faithful friend.

I suddenly felt ashamed that I out-casted him when I first met him at Percy's school back when we were 13. Percy kept telling me that he didn't blame me because I had encountered a Cyclops before and it had put me in a near death experience but I should've known that all Cyclops aren't the same.

I wiped the thoughts out of my mind and focused on the present.

_No more memories…for now anyway._

"Good. Are you gonna come to camp?"

He nodded, "I will talk to daddy when he wakes up. Tyson has been good in the forges. Hopefully I can come today."

I smiled once again, "Great. See you later?"

He returned the smile and nodded, "Yes. Goodbye Annabeth."

I waved, "Bye Tyson."

I disconnected the call and reached for the final drachma. I wasn't completely sure if I should be calling this person, but then I decided that she had the right to know.

I threw the coin into the mist and requested, "_Rachel Elizabeth Dare,"_ after chanting the ancient chant.

Suddenly, the image of a frizzy red-head popped up before me. It looked the same way as it had with Tyson (as in it was a straight on view) except that Rachel was awake, her green eyes staring into mine.

"WOAH!" She fell backwards and I chuckled.

"Hey Rachel." I waved.

Once she had recovered from her fall, she waved back, "Hey Annabeth. Um, how?" She gestured at the Iris Message.***

"It's called an Iris-Message. It's just like a phone call but you can see each other and…it's confusing but yeah it's a demigod thing."

She nodded in understanding, "So what can I do for you? You need a prophecy or something?"

"No. Not really. I called to tell you about something that happened recently."

She walked over to a chair in her room and sat down, "It sounds pretty serious from your tone of voice."

"It is."

"Well, let me hear it."

I explained the story to Rachel just as I had to Grover and Tyson. I watched as her eyes widened at the news of his disappearance. I watched as her face remained in the same shocked state, but her eyes displayed conflicting emotions, _fear, worry, sadness_.

By the end of my story telling session the only difference I could see on Rachel's face was her lips that had parted slightly. But her eyes… her eyes were a sea of emotion. I swore I could see tears forming on the corners of her eyes but she blinked them back before I could be sure.

"So…Percy's missing."

"Yep." I said sadly.

"And he didn't leave _anything_ that could give you a clue to where he is?"

"Nope."

She dropped my gaze and stared at the floor, biting her lip.

"Something's not right here." She said to me, but her face was still focused on the floor.

I felt like sending her a sarcastic remark but I saw the sadness in her face again. I realised she was thinking, hard. She was _already_ trying to uncover the situation. I suddenly had new found respect for this red-head. "Yeah. None of this makes sense."

"And it really doesn't help that Zeus closed Olympus."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence until I spoke again, "So when are you coming to camp? I've been expecting you for a few days now."

"I should be coming this week. It's just a matter of waiting for my parents to remember that I have summer commitments."

I smiled. This was the Rachel I knew. "Okay well I'll see you soon."

She returned it, "Yeah. Hopefully we'll get a clue about Percy soon."

"Hopefully…"

We shared our goodbyes and I disconnected the call.

I was about to check the time again when another image appeared before me.

It was Grover, again, with a very worried – almost terrified – look on his face.

"Gr-Grover? Are you alright?" I stuttered, in shock.

He gulped and regained his senses, "Y-yeah I'm fine. I just found out something though."

"About Percy?"

He nodded, "But you're not really going to want to hear it."

"Are you kidding me? Of course I do! Spill the beans!"

He took a deep breath and then explained, "Well after your call, I tried the empathy link. But, the link wouldn't work. It was as if I was staring into a black hole. I couldn't see, feel or hear **(A.N. I don't have to continue with the senses right? You get the point)** anything. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. So I stopped trying and waited for a bit. Then I did it again and got the same result. But the scary thing was…the only time an empathy link has ever acted like that before…"

He trailed off, obviously not wanting me to hear the rest, but I had to know. I needed every little clue I could find.

"What? When has it acted like that before?"

He took one large gulp of air before continuing, "was when…when the person on the other end was," he said the last word in such a small voice I had to strain to hear, and even then I could only faintly make it out, "dead."

As soon as he said that word, my body froze in shock. Dead? But he couldn't be dead.

"What do you mean? Percy's not dead. The _son _of Death told us himself."

"I know that. Which made me even more confused." He paused for a moment, "Anyway, that's it. I'll let you know if I find out anything else."

I nodded and he disconnected the call.

For a moment, I stood there, staring into space in a mixture of both shock and confusion. Then my ADHD impulse got the best of me and I turned to look at the clock. _5:50 AM. _

_Great. _I thought. _Just great. What am I going to do for two hours?_

I climbed back into Percy's bed and curled myself up into a ball. I tightened my grip on the sheets and his jumper and took in a deep, deep breath.

"Oh Percy." I sighed.

"Where are you?"

….

*I thought this might be why Annabeth doesn't show her emotions that easily. It's got something to do with her pride. Hubris is her fatal flaw, so it makes sense. But that's just my opinion.

**Let's just pretend that Tyson fixed it or something and it isn't broken anymore okay? Good.

***I'm not sure/can't remember if Rachel knows about Iris Messages. Let's just pretend that she doesn't okay?

**Okay so I would like to apologise for my HORRIBLE reviewing skills. I feel REALLY bad about that…**

**In the meantime, while you're waiting for the next chapter…REVIEW! Please? You guys are wonderful at making me feel good about my stories.**

**The more reviews, THE MORE PUMPED I AM TO WRITE!**

**And I also feel obliged to tell you that I go back to school tomorrow. Yay. (note the sarcasm).**

**No I am not American – or in the Northern Hemisphere for that fact – and my winter break has just finished.**

**Life sucks.**

**Until next time my fellow Percabeth shippers ;)**

**Percabeth-is-Endless**


	10. We Need All the Help We Can Get

**I FINALLY DID IT. Sure, it's been, I don't know three months, BUT I UPLOADED ANOTHER CHAPTER! WOOOO!**

**I'm really **_**really **_**sorry. School is so…ugh. I'm a suckish uploader anyway but SCHOOL. Anyways I'm on holidays now so I **_**hopefully**_** can upload more often. We'll just see.**

**MARK OF ATHENA IS IN FIVE MORE DAYS GUYS THIS IS EXCITING. PERCABETH REUNION. WOOOO**

**And then there's everything else about Mark of Athena that I'm excited about as well.**

**Okay so I'm just gonna do a list of people to shout out:  
Miranda (nudge, nudge),MooseRex010900 & LillieTyce089230 (you guys are awesome), guitar-goddess16 (she is just plain amazing)and also MaydayParade8123 (she's awesome okay? -see what I did there May)**

**And all of you that I didn't shout-out. I appreciate each and everyone of your favourites, follows and reviews.**

_Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake Line brake _

**Annabeth POV**

I just lay there, tangled in the sheets of my missing boyfriend's bed.

I'm not sure how long I was there. It's hard to think about time when your life is such a complicated mess.

Eventually, being ADHD and all, I got really bored and couldn't take it. I rolled onto my side and checked the alarm clock.

_5:53AM. _

"_Two minutes?"_ I thought to myself, _"I've been lying here for _two minutes_?"_

I sighed again before untangling myself from the sheets and standing up. I quickly made the bed; partly so nobody would suspect I was in here, partly to keep the fresh smell of the sea – Percy's permanent scent – from leaving the bed. I wanted to keep him as close as possible.

As I turned to leave the cabin, something caught my eye. I spun to face the object and my eyes found a small picture frame, sitting on Percy's dresser. I walked towards it, wondering why I found it so special and as soon as the picture in the frame came into focus, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Inside the simple wooden frame, was a picture of Percy and I from last summer, in the weeks after the second Titan War. In the picture, Percy and I were standing up, our sides facing the camera. The picture caught us mid kiss and the sun was setting behind us. It was actually the perfect picture. I had no idea who had taken it, or how Percy had gotten a hold of it, but just looking at it made the memory rush back.

_We were sitting on the sand at fireworks beach, leaning back onto our hands. It was sunset and my head was resting on his shoulder. Our fingers were intertwined and a few soft rays of sun were still shining on the water, making it sparkle._

_It was silent. The only sounds we could hear was the calm, crashing of the waves as they broke on the shore and the occasional chirp of a bird or rustle of the leaves._

_If anything, the silence made the moment _more _perfect. _

_We just sat there, for gods know how long, enjoying each other's company, watching the sunlight dance off the water._

_Somehow, we ended up lying down, Percy's arm wrapped around me and my head buried into his shoulder. The sun had disappeared and the last remaining rays of sunlight were fading. _

_Normally, the silence would've been killing me – being ADHD and all – but this was a comfortable silence, watching the rise and fall of Percy's chest, feeling his fingers draw random patterns on my stomach._

_Eventually, I must've drifted off to sleep because next thing I knew, a conch horn sounded, signalling dinner time, and my eyes flew open. _

_Percy stood up and offered me his hand, which I accepted with a smile. He pulled me into a short but passionate kiss and then I intertwined our fingers._

_Before he even knew what was happening, I took off, sprinting ahead of him towards the pavilion. I turned my head to look back at where he was, only to see that he was _right _behind me. _

_Without warning, he wrapped his arms around my waist, picked me up and spun me around. We were both laughing hysterically and I couldn't help myself but throw my arms around his neck and kiss him again._

_I felt him smile against my lips as he pulled back and began walking toward the pavilion again, his fingers intertwined with mine._

_I was still smiling that night in bed, while I was waiting for sleep to claim me._

_Whenever I was with Percy, I just had this strange feeling of euphoria. _

_And I was entirely okay with it._

I shook my head to wake me from the memories of the good times – they were the last thing I needed right now – and tried to focus on the present.

Unfortunately, the memory was fresh in my mind and next thing I knew, I was hyperventilating and spun around from the picture to stop the feelings from returning.

_How can __one__ boy make me feel like this?_

I thought back to the summer when we were 14. Percy and I had gone to Mt Saint Helens*, he told me to follow the spider back to Hephaestus' forge and I kissed him. Then he had gone missing for 2 weeks and I got overwhelmed with pressure, blaming myself, leaving without him.

This situation was a lot like that one, I had no-idea where he'd gone and I'd kissed him before he'd disappeared. But this time I wasn't about to let the rest of camp see me cry.

I walked towards the door of the cabin and opened it slowly, stepping out into the cool morning air. The soft sunlight was lighting up parts of camp, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

I stealthily ran across the green and entered my cabin, closing the door behind me.

Luckily for me, none of my half-siblings were awake so I quietly slipped into the sheets of my bunk and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep so my half brothers and sisters wouldn't suspect anything if they woke up soon.

As if on cue, somebody stirred in their bed. I heard the sound of the sheets being pushed to the end of the bed and a pair of feet landing on the floor of the cabin, as if the camper had jumped from one of the top bunks, making a loud crash which happened to wake up a lot of the other sons-and-daughters-of-Athena in the cabin.

I pretended to not have been affected by the noise.

I figured it was well past 6am now, meaning that campers would be waking up and getting ready for the day.

So, acting as normal as possible, I opened my eyes and pretended to be waking up for the first time this morning.

I'd say I did a pretty convincing job.

I said some _good-mornings_ as I went over to my dresser to get a clean pair of clothes until I heard Malcolm's voice behind me.

"Hey Annie, who's hoodie is that?"

I looked down, surprised, until I realised I still had Percy's hoodie on from last night, I hadn't even noticed I was still wearing it until now.

"It's um…" I said, still looking at the hoodie, "It's Percy's."

I briefly made eye-contact with Malcolm as I said my boyfriend's name. His expression changed from curiosity to sympathy in a spilt-second and he just nodded. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some of my other half-siblings give me sad smiles but I tried to make my face remain as blank as possible as I blinked back tears.

_Damn you emotions. Stay away from me._

I turned away from my siblings as I continued what I was doing before.

As I made my way to the bathrooms to freshen up, I made a silent promise to myself: that today would be a day of complete distraction. I would think about Percy as little as possible.

On my way back to cabin 6, I talked with some of the other campers, trying to take my mind off things, but the conversation would always drift to Percy's disappearance.

_Everybody_ at camp knew _exactly_ what had happened and for some reason, I guessed that they _all_ thought it would be a _great_ idea to bombard the missing hero's girlfriend with questions.

Newsflash kids: _Terrible. Idea._

I led my cabin to the dining pavilion, as usual and continued to receive sympathy looks and smiles from pretty much everyone.

Breakfast dragged on, I picked at my food, not really having an appetite and eventually just getting up and emptying the whole plate into the fire as a sacrifice:

_Send me a sign, something,__ anything_**. **_Just tell me where my boyfriend is._

I wasn't praying to any god in particular. Just anybody who would listen I guess.

As I was walking back to my table, I noticed Nico sitting alone at the Hades table. We made eye contact and he beckoned me over.

Once I reached where he was sitting he fixed me with a serious sort-of look.

"Hey Nico. How'd you sleep?"

He shrugged, "Fine. I'm leaving right after breakfast but I wanted to talk to you."

I smiled and sat down across from him, "What about?"

His face remained the same and he said nothing, clearly indicating he wanted to talk about Percy.

I sighed, resting my chin on my hand and looking down at the table, "What is there to say? You heard me last night. That is all I know."

"I know that. I want to help."

That made me look up, "You do? What do you have in mind?"

He shrugged again, "I was just going to say that I'd look for him on my way back to LA. I can search around the California area if you want."

I smiled again, a small smile, "That'd be great. The more people searching the better."

This time, he returned the smile. I got up from his table and ruffled his hair, causing him to roll his eyes, and made my way back to the Athena table.

I sat down, and just stared at nothing, not really wanting to talk to anyone. Eventually, Chiron got up on the podium and _thump_ed his hooves to silence the pavilion. He began with the morning announcements and was about to dismiss us to our morning activities when Drew – that witch – decided to bring up the _one_ subject he hadn't.

Percy.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her send a smirk in my direction before she spoke in that ever-so-annoying way of hers, "Chiron! Is there any news on Percy?"

Chiron shook his head, "Unfortunately not."

Drew started batting her eyelashes repeatedly, and smiling sweetly. For what reason I have no idea.

"Are you sureeeee?"

Chiron sighed, "Yes. Unless…"

His eyes trailed from Drew's and locked with mine and I instantly knew what he was thinking.

"No. Nothing. Not a single word." I said quietly, avoiding eye contact with anybody at all costs.

There was an eerie silence until she-who-shall-not-be-named perked up again, her words dripping with mock sympathy, "Aww. Is Annabeth upset 'cause her boyfriend's gone missing?"

Fury raged through my body. I picked my head up and glared daggers at her, "Shut it Drew."

For a millisecond, my sharp tone frightened her. I could see it in her eyes. But just as quickly as the fright appeared, it vanished, and was replaced by a fierce, competitive stare and a smug look on her face. She crossed her arms above her chest and I knew that she was _trying_ to aggravate me.

Well it was working.

As much as I hated to admit it.

It was working _very_ well.

I did my best to pretend not to care: by rolling my eyes and turning away.

It was only then that a realised that every, single eye in entire pavilion was turned towards us.

I looked around, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention and was about to speak when Chiron – thank the gods – broke the silence, "Alright! Off to your morning activities!"

Everybody snapped out of whatever trance they were in and rushed out of the pavilion.

I was about to leave with my cabin when Chiron waved me over. I saw Drew and her 'posse' snicker and I gave them my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare** and walked over to Chiron.

"Annabeth," he sighed, "I know the past few days haven't been the _best_ few days…"

_Yeah._ I thought. _Thanks for clarifying that._

"But that's no excuse for acting hostile to your fellow campers. I suggest today you take it easy. Do the camp activities with your cabin, go through some of those designs on Daedelus' laptop, distract yourself _somehow._ I don't want you dwelling on Percy the whole day though."

My first reaction was shock. Shock because I'd expected some form of lecture about "proper breakfast etiquette" or something. Then my shock changed to understanding. I nodded and turned on my heel to leave the pavilion and go back towards my cabin.

Different campers tried to start up a conversation with me but I really didn't feel like talking. Once I'd reached my cabin, I grabbed Daedelus' laptop and sat down on my bed, going through various building designs.

I kept scrolling through until I found a design that I liked. I went through it over and over, making notes for improvements and all that.

I was so focused on the design that I jumped when I heard a knock at the door of my cabin.

I internally groaned – I really couldn't be bothered to get up – and started towards the door.

When I opened it, I was expecting one of my siblings or something. But instead I found myself face-to-face with what looked like a massive baby with one eye.

"Tyson!"

"Annabeth!"

I hugged him and he hugged me back, squeezing really tight.

"Can't…breathe…squeezing…too…hard…"

He released me and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

I smiled back, "It's alright. So how are you?"

"Tyson is good. Been making lots of swords and weapons for Daddy. You?"

I shrugged, "I'm alright. Have definitely been better."

Tyson nodded in understanding, "So brother has disappeared?"

"Yes. Percy has disappeared."

"And you don't know where he's gone."

I shook my head, "Not a clue."

And the conversation went on, we discussed lots of different ways of searching for Percy until Tyson remembered that he had some war meeting to go to – what being the general of the Cyclops army and all.

He left with a promise that he would help look for Percy and let me know if he'd found anything.

I retreated back to my bunk and got stuck in my design again. Next thing I knew the conch horn for lunch was echoing through my cabin.

Sighing, I shut the screen of the laptop and lazily got up off the bed and began walking towards the door.

I exited the cabin and made my way across the green, blinking at the sudden change of lighting. As I reached my table, I was about to sit down when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I flinched – on reflex – and turned around, shrugging the hand off in the process.

"Annabeth, sweetie! A bit jumpy are we?"

I gritted my teeth, "What do you want Drew?"

Drew pouted and tilted her head to the side, "Look. I just wanted to _apologise_ for this morning okay? I was only _teasing_. I didn't expect you to get so…_aggravated_ about it all." She explained with a flick of her dark hair.

"Whatever." I replied, rolling my eyes and looking away while forcing a "_that's the past now. I don't care anymore"_ sort of tone into my voice.

Drew narrowed her eyes at me, like she was actually _thinking_ about something for once, but then put on a dazzling smile, "Okay hon. I'm gonna go now." She said, as if I was actually supposed to care.

She spun on her heel and pranced off, closely followed by her "posse".

I rolled my eyes again and exhaled, turning around and sitting down on my table. My siblings had arrived now and had apparently been waiting for me to go get their food.

We went through the normal meal rituals and I made some small talk with my siblings, still not feeling like talking or eating.

Chiron eventually dismissed us to our afternoon activities but waved me over – again – before I headed off.

"Annabeth, I know you're taking it easy today." He said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I glanced at his hand, "Yeah."

"So I was wondering if you could help me in the office for a bit, considering you're not really doing anything else."

I thought about it for a moment, "Sure Chiron. Of course."

He smiled at me, I returned it with a half-hearted one and he trotted off towards the Big House, me following closely behind.

After we got there, Chiron explained to me that he wanted me to help him sort all of the loose papers that had been scattered around his office.

The only reason I agreed was because, well, he was Chiron and I kind of owe him for everything he'd done for me.

_**LiNeBrEaK**_

I'll tell you something about filing loose papers.

It is definitely _not_ the most stimulating activity you'll ever do.

Especially when your sorting partner is a massive Frank Sinatra fan and enjoys listening to his music when doing something boring.

Anyway, I was in charge of sorting through all of the reports from satyrs and protectors worldwide and then filing them alphabetically – not the easiest task when you're dyslexic.

As I skimmed briefly through one of the reports a certain section caught my eye, though I'm not sure why:

_I'm still watching the two demigods, they definitely look ready to be taken to camp. We'll be waiting for the extraction squad later this week._

I skipped down to the bottom of the page to see the sender:

_Gleeson Hedge, satyr and protector._

_Gleeson Hedge_…why does that name sound familiar?

I couldn't place a reason so I turned to Chiron,

"Hey Chiron?"

Chiron paused the music, "Yes my dear."

"What's this about?" I pushed the letter toward him.

"Ah. One of our protectors believes that there are two demigods in the school he is "teaching" at. They are older than most – around 15 or 16. It's a wonder monsters haven't found them yet."

I nodded, processing the information, "And what's this about an extraction squad?"

"We're sending in an extraction squad tomorrow to retrieve the two demigods and return them back to camp to be trained."

"Who's going?"

"Well so far it's only Butch."

"You mean the buff guy from Iris?"

"Yes. He's going to take the pegasi over, but it would be better if he had another demigod to accompany him…"

He trailed off and there was an awkward silence until I realised what he was suggesting.

"What? You mean me? Oh, I'm not sure Chiron. Maybe, I'll see."

He nodded, "It's your choice" before switching the music back on and returning to the loose sheets of paper.

_**Here's another line-break**_

I eventually finished helping Chiron – and those hours went by _really_ slowly – around dinnertime. I was feeling a lot…better? Is better the word? I could hold up a proper conversation and my appetite had come back, so yes. I consider that as "better".

At the end of dinner, Chiron began with the evening announcements.

"For those of you who don't know, I think it's best to inform you that one of our campers has suffered a fatal injury."

A murmur rose through the campers and I decided to pay attention. I felt it was my duty to know what was happening around this camp.

"But I think it's best if one of his cabin mates explains the story. Nyssa if you please."

A girl from Hephaestus stood up and approached the podium.

"Hey guys. So, as you know, ever since a couple summers ago, we've been trying to capture the Bronze Dragon and, um, destroy it. Today while he was in the woods, Jake Mason spotted it and tried to lure it to him and well…it didn't go so well. He got burned, bad. And clawed at, and a bunch of other nasty details I'm not going to explain. He's in his cabin now resting – we've done all we can for him in the infirmary – but he's gonna be out of action for a while. He's been put in a full body cast and everything so it's pretty serious. And, um…yeah."

Nyssa left the podium and returned to her table. The dining pavilion was filled with people whispering things like, "it's the _Curse of Cabin Nine_" and "that's no accident. It _has_ to be the curse." That went on for a couple of minutes before Chiron returned to the podium and restored order.

As he finished off the evening's announcements, some kid from Apollo decided to bring up the Percy topic again.

"Annabeth! Is there any news on Percy?"

_Ugh,_ I thought, _can't these kids give me a _break_. I mean _seriously. _There was no news at breakfast and I haven't been doing anything all day. How on _earth_ could there be any news?_

But instead I replied almost the same way as I had this morning, "No. Nothing. Not a single word."

"Oh, but –"

"Nothing. End of conversation." I said through gritted teeth before getting up from my table and storming back to my cabin.

I was grateful that nobody called after me, they just let me go. But seriously, can't these people understand that it _isn't_ doing me any favours to keep bringing Percy up?

If anything, it's just going to come back and bite them in the butt later.

A pissed daughter-of-Athena who's missing her boyfriend is _not_ somebody you want as an enemy.

I decided I was going to try for an early night tonight.

No campfires, no Daedelus' laptop, no distractions.

Just sleep.

Hopefully the gods would grant me with what I needed: A nice, peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Actually some dreams would be nice.

Maybe a _helpful _dream.

A dream with _answers._

Yeah. Maybe one of the Olympians would feel helpful and break their code of silence to help me, to give me a starting point.

And with that hopefulness set in my mind, I climbed under the sheets and closed my eyes.

*_Don't_ start going off at me about how they were 15 that summer, CAUSE THEY WEREN'T. Percy turned 15 at the end of the book and I have no idea when Annabeth's birthday is. SO THERE.

**LIGHTNING THIEF REFERENCE. They can both have an _I'll-kill-you-later_ glare can't they?

**So this was a filler chapter if you didn't notice. **

**Was it worth the wait? Probably not. Can I move on with the story now though? Yes.**

**But no it's 11:45pm and I'm really tired.**

**SO NIGHTY NIGHT GUYS.**

**I'd really love it if you reviewed.**

**5 MORE DAYS!**


End file.
